by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Considering the City provides State Attorney Harry Shorstein with about .02 percent of his annual budget, it didn’t come as a surprise when the City Council Finance Committee didn’t spend much time on Shorstein’s budget during Thursday’s budget hearings.
Now, Shorstein will wait and see what the State Legislature may do during a special session later this month. Depending on the cuts made, if any at all, Shorstein may find himself in a difficult spot entering his last year-and-a-half as State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
“There is a potentially great affect on the state budget,” said Shorstein. “The City’s portion is pretty well defined. Our budget funding comes overwhelmingly from the State.”
While Shorstein’s office serves Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, the vast majority of his proposed $24.7 million budget comes from the state and through grants and donations. According to his executive director Kathy Weintraub, $21 million of that budget goes towards the salaries of the 383 people that work in the circuit’s office.
The City’s portion of the budget for 2007-08 is just over $500,000 and that’s down over 27 percent ($189,338) from last year. The City reduction is due to the ongoing consolidation of Shorstein’s offices in Duval County. At one point earlier this year, his prosecutors and support staff were scattered across five offices Downtown.
“In a couple of months, we will be down to two,” said Weintraub.
Most of the State Attorney’s Office is now located in the City Hall Annex on Bay Street.
Weintraub said the City’s contribution to the State Attorney’s Office budget may be going down, but the service level of the office isn’t. In fact, Shorstein told the committee given the murder and crime rate in Jacksonville, his office could easily use a bigger budget.
“Over the years, the City will increase funding for law enforcement and that makes sense,” said Shorstein, explaining that his office must then process and prosecute those criminals. “This week, we had our 22nd murder trial of the year. That equals last year’s total and we are on pace for more.
“We don’t get extra money. If the State cuts our budget by 10 percent, it will be catastrophic. If they cut our budget by even 4 percent, it will be close to catastrophic. We have no more room to cut.”
Shorstein said he is being asked to do more with a similar-sized or smaller staff.
“I am not sure how much longer we can go on, especially with the murder rate,” he said. “We will keep our fingers crossed come September.”